The ROTHBURY festival that was to end here in the wee hours Monday morning not only blew away festivalgoers but showed a national entertainment industry how to put on a wildly successful "green" music festival.

Many of those pouring out of the festival campgrounds this morning called ROTHBURY a special gathering -- the first of what could become an annual national event.

What has transpired the past four days in southern Oceana County, with a population of 26,879, has positive future implications for West Michigan and the state.

An estimated crowd of 40,000 -- official numbers won't be available until the end of the week organizers said -- enjoyed ideal weather conditions and a festival plan that didn't skip a beat. There were more than 70 bands, including the Dave Matthews Band, Snoop Dogg and John Mayer, who played ROTHBURY amid a beautiful, Double JJ Resort setting that left many festival-goers smiling as they prepared for long treks home to states including Alaska, Oregon and Texas.

"My biggest amazement is that we had no impact on traffic, zip, zero," Lipsitz said of bringing so many people to one rural site. "All the way from Muskegon up to the ranch, we brought 40,000 people through West Michigan and the majority are from out of state. That's fresh money for this state."

Chronicle/Krista SchinaglFrank Harkinson plays with his son, Nova Harkinson, 3, left, of North Carolina, and Grayson Lister, 4, of New Brunswick, Canada, by the Big Wildcat Lake during the ROTHBURY Festival on Sunday. Enlarge photo

After Thursday's traffic arrival, one would be hard-pressed from outside the gate to realize that a group of people the size of the city of Muskegon's population was living for four days on the 2,000-acre ranch.

The affect on the surrounding Rothbury community in Grant Township has been minimal except for the concert noise for the neighbors immediately adjacent to the ranch, who all were offered either weekend accommodations out of town or tickets to the event, Lipsitz said.

Some businesses, such as the Wesco station at Winston Road and Oceana Drive, thrived. The Muskegon-based gasoline station and convenience store had seven commercial-sized ice freezers that it had trouble keeping stocked through the weekend. Some customers were buying 20-30 bags of ice at a time, a clerk said.

Chronicle/Krista SchinaglStacy Conner, left, and Marcelius Conner of Lansing take turns catching their 10-month-old son, Marcelius, as he practices walking while they relax by the Ranch Arena during the ROTHBURY Festival on Sunday. Enlarge photo

Heat was not a problem as the first ROTHBURY was blessed with perfect weather -- sunny skies, light winds and temperatures in the high 70s. Even the mosquitoes that had been feasting on folks in the Muskegon area earlier this summer, stayed away from ROTHBURY.

"It's surreal ... beyond my wildest expectations," said Brian Lipsitz, son of the owners and venue manager for Double JJ. "The feedback we have gotten has been overwhelmingly positive."

The younger Lipsitz helped land the national music festival by convincing Jeremy Stein of Madison House Presents, co-producers of the festival with AEG Live, to take a chane on the venue.

Madison House has been working 1½ years on the details of ROTHBURY, an environmentally-themed festival that Stein had been planning before he even discovered Double JJ.

"The beauty of the logistic design of this weekend is that we did not hit any failure points for all of our systems," Stein said. "Can some operations be better? Sure. There has been a smooth vibe to this festival. We feel great."

There is no doubt that this is just the first ROTHBURY. Lipsitz said the promoters and Double JJ have an initial three-year lease of the property for the first weekend in July with the option of extending that agreement another nine years.

"So many people have come up and thanked me, even neighbors that don't like me and the naysayers," Lipsitz said. "I can't say or ask for more."

Chronicle/Krista SchinaglThe Dave Matthews Band rocked the crowd of 40,000 Saturday night. John Mayer was scheduled to play tonight, the festival's last. Enlarge photo

With all of the positives coming out of this Fourth of July weekend event, plans for next year's event will begin in the coming days and weeks. An AEG official said this weekend that next year should bring an event "double" the size of this year's.

Festival organizers will meet with local officials and eventually again go before the Grant Township for a permit to hold the event next year.

The township allowed this year's event to be up to 50,000 people, but Lipsitz said the ranch has state permits even this year that would have allowed camping for up to nearly 90,000.

"We want to make the festival bigger and better," Stein said looking into the future. "We want to raise the bar at every level."